Yes, I do get requests to check out different health, fitness, and nutrition articles at times, and this one was just too funny not to make a little review out of. The article is about “7 beginner nutrition mistakes” and is written by Roger “Rock” Lockridge for the supplement store and publishing company Muscle and Strength, very similar to T-Nation, but a few steps behind.
The article begins with the following premise:
“When it comes to nutrition, knowing what not to do is just as important as knowing what you should do. Skip these food habits so you can reach your goals.”
Well, then, let’s see what these mistakes are and what we should be doing. This will be good.
1. Don’t Binge on Your “Cheat Day”
I will not even touch on what Roger writes here, as it is irrelevant due to the fact that no one should have the need for cheat days ever.
The idea of a cheat day comes from the fact that traditional bodybuilding- and fitness diet foods are so bland and boring, and that following a diet is so hard on the psyche and the body that people need a break from it and gorge themselves with highly unhealthy and toxic crap, such as pizza, sweets, and ice cream.
However, the real reason for feeling this way is that your diet of tiny amounts of low-fat animal produce together with enormous portions of nutritionless and toxic carbohydrate sources, vegetables, and vegetable/seed oils sucks. And it sucks to the extreme! There is virtually no digestible and bioavailable nutrition in any plant-based food. You can only get nutrition from animal-based foods. So, you develop nutrition deficiencies, especially a lack of animal fats and micronutrients, such as vitamins and minerals. This will of course make you feel tired, lethargic, and make you crave food all the time, as your body is desperately urging you to actually consume something nutritious.
So, just bringing up the idea of ‘cheat days’ suggest that you know absolutely nothing about how to consume healthy and nutritious foods, as in animal-based foods. Fix your nutrition, and you will never have need for such an idiotic idea.
2. Don’t Lock in on One diet
Roger tells us that there are several approaches to nutrition. “There are advocates for all the diets, including Paleo, Atkins, Carnivore, plant-based, and many others here. You may do your own research and find one that you think you can stick to, which is great. My only ask is that you don’t lock yourself in on that one as the only option there is.”
This might sound like good advice, at least until you actually understand the simple fact that we humans, as with any living being, should eat accordingly to our physiology, we should consume what is species-specific and species-appropriate. And humans are obligate hyper carnivores. This is an undisputable fact for every single human. While we can survive for long periods of time on starvation and emergency “belly fillers” such as plant-foods, we can only thrive on the correct bioavailable sustenance of animal-based foods. Doing anything else will hurt your body, reduce your lifespan, and contribute to disease.
So, your nutritional base should always be animal foods. No exceptions ever. From there, you can always experiment a little if the need arises. But know that if you do, anything that is not animal-based will stress your body and also cause toxic buildup.
With that said, there are numerous ways of doing an animal-based “diet” or a “carnivore diet.” There are tons of food choices and many ways to manipulate protein to fat ratio depending on your goals. I’ve covered this in several articles. Check the archives.
3. Don’t Think All Calories Are Equal
That is a terrible headline for the third ‘mistake.’ Calories are a measurement of heat-energy from burning something and raising the temperature of a given mass of water with 1 °C. Living beings do not extract energy from food to produce heat, we extract nutrients from food to provide components for our metabolic functions.
What I think Roger means is that foods that look the same, or even go by the same names, can be very different. He does go on about grocery shopping and having ‘oats’ on the grocery list and then simply grab the first best package from the shelf, getting instant flavored oats instead of steel-cut oats.
And this is true if you are dumb enough to shop for man-made Frankenstein foods. There are multiple versions of each and every item, the next one worse and more toxic than the other. However, if you follow your species-appropriate diet, you only need to shop for real natural and minimally processed animal-based foods. It’s a lot easier to navigate.
4. Don’t Pass Up the Water
Here Roger says the following, “Water isn’t as tasty as coffee, tea, or other beverages. So, a lot of folks think that as long as they get fluids in them, it doesn’t matter if it’s water or not. This is inaccurate. You actually need to drink water as well, and quite a bit of it. Most active people need a gallon, but a common gauge is to multiply your bodyweight by .66 to get the number of ounces.”
No, water flushes water. It actually dehydrates you, unless you get enough electrolytes to compensate and let your cells use it, as in sodium and potassium.
The reason people get thirsty and need to drink is because they consume carbohydrates and a lot of toxic garbage, such as plant-based foods. Water is needed to store those carbs and to flush out toxins. Also, this shuts down your process of making metabolic water, the ultimate source of perfect water for the body (you produce small amounts when you’re in ketosis, and a lot more when in a fasted state.) Also, the more you cook your food, the less water and electrolytes it will contain.
If you follow your species-appropriate diet, and cook your food as little as possible, you get almost all the ‘water’ you need from your food. Still, it might be helpful to get some ounces of water a day. But going overboard as Roger suggest is only a sign that your diet is terrible, dehydrating, and toxic. You do not fix that problem by drinking more, you fix it by adopting a diet that is appropriate for your human physiology, as in animal-based foods.
5. Don’t Skip Meals
Yes, if you have specific goals and are active, missing meals equals less nutrients for recovery and repair. So, in that case I agree. However, if your goal is only to be healthy and you do not care about muscle mass or physical performance, ‘skipping’ a meal every now and then will actually only do you good, as long as you get enough nutrients on a continuous basis and do not develop any nutrient deficiencies.
6. Don’t Think You Can Do It on Your Own
Here Roger tells us that, “reading articles and using some common sense is great, but there are reasons that even professional bodybuilders use nutrition coaches and trainers. They need help to make the most out of their efforts. No one knows it all.”
Yes, if you’re an athlete that competes and/or have specific goals, a coach is invaluable to help you cope with everything and to keep you on the right track. Also, and this goes for everyone, getting a knowledgeable and experienced coach will save you a lot of time, especially if you do not really know where to start or if you’re not the best researcher. If that coach also teaches you the right way and explain why you do as you do, it will kick-start your journey and get you far ahead of the lonely researcher, wasting days and days on google, magazines, and books. And that is why my coaching service is educational, why my programs are complete educational guides.
7. Don’t Stop Learning
You served that one on a silver platter, Roger. While your intentions with this article was honorable, you are still trapped in pseudo-science and the bastardized dogma of falsified nutrition. Still, this is a very important point, and I’ve been deceived many times as well during my 30+ years journey of nutrition and coaching. And when you understand the extremely simple fact that humans are obligate hyper carnivores, you have reached the final destination in nutrition. From here, it’s just a matter of tweaking depending on goals, eventual health problems and living situations.
If you need real help or guidance, as in learning our species-appropriate way of eating, or if you need to lose body fat or need help with health problems, please check my coaching services here:
Online-Coaching and Education – Animal-Based Nutrition